Defence Minister Anita Anand says Canada is considering increasing its military presence in Eastern Europe in response to Russia's military buildup near the Ukrainian border.
Meanwhile, Montreal's Ukrainian community is planning to stage a demonstration on Sunday in solidarity with their native country.
For many of them, the current situation brings back painful memories.
Roman Serbyn is a retired professor of Eastern European history at the Université de Montréal. He and his family fled to Canada from Ukraine ahead of Russian soldiers pouring in during the Second World War. It’s something that still gives him flashbacks.
“Open fields, for example, and lights. Even now, when I drive by open fields and lights I feel scared,” he said in an interview Thursday.
“Putin has said there’s no Ukrainian language, there’s no Ukrainian nation.”
As tensions rise along the Ukrainian border with Russia, Serbyn worries about the threats to his native country and the ramifications for his language.
More than 40,000 Ukranians call Montreal home, and there are almost 1.5 million diaspora in Canada. Many have immigrant stories just like Serbyn’s that started in the Second World War.
“The Russians were coming back and grandma told her son, ‘Leave! Go find a better life because the Russians are coming.’ And history seems to be repeating itself,” said Michael Shwev, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
The build-up of soldiers along Russia's border with Ukraine has many in the Ukrainian community in Montreal calling for action.
“It is definitely something Canadians should think about and be concerned about because it’s a direct challenge to western civilization and the values of western civilizations,” Shwev said.
“There’s such a thing as the United Nations. The United Nations does not recognize aggression and invasion [of another sovereign country] as a legitimate means of settling their disputes,” Serbyn added.
In Montreal, the demonstration will take place at 2 p.m. at Place Jacques-Cartier.
